


Elena's Day Out - An Adventure in Babysitting

by Scribe32oz



Series: Seven Scrolls [22]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humour, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 16:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe32oz/pseuds/Scribe32oz
Summary: Buck and Inez are having a day to themselves after the birth of their daughter Elena Rose, so its up to the rest of the seven and their ladies to babysit. Told from Elena's POV.Poor fluff and silliness, written for a friend who had her first daughter.





	Elena's Day Out - An Adventure in Babysitting

Elena Rose Wilmington mostly identified people by smell and sight and at four months of age, she was satisfied this was a skill she would keep in the future. She knew faces to some extent and judged whether or not she liked them, by how they felt and sounded. There were not many faces she did not like. For instance, that big pink stuffed rabbit sitting in the corner of her crib, she was certain would one day stop sitting and do something terrible to her while she slept.

The world was still a big place to her and if she actually knew what the world was, it would make understanding it a lot easier. Still, her life was rather simple at the moment and everything was a source of fascination, especially the faces around her all the time. They varied in appearance and often emerged when she was hungry, frightened or needed taking care of. She liked it when they carried her outside to the place where there was nothing but blue overhead and so much space her mind could not make sense of it. She liked being under the blue because there was warmth there; almost as warm as the hands that often held her.

She did not always understand what the faces said but they spoke to her a lot and they were always smiling when they did. Strangely enough, they did not always smile when they spoke to each other, causing her some confusion. She had names for the faces and was always happy to see the one that was always smiling and saying soft things in her ears, she did not understand, but felt deeply comforted hearing them.

"Hello there my little Rose," The smiling one with the dark hair said as Elena felt herself picked up from the place where she slept. "We’re going on a little trip."

"Inez!" Another voice rang out and Elena knew who it was even if she did not understand anything it was saying. It did not sound very happy. "Are you ready yet? We gotta get going soon."

"Buck," the smiling face replied. "I’m ready. I’ve just got to get Rose."

"How’s my girl?" The face she called _Moustache_ looked down at her with a grin as she felt herself being lifted in _Smile’s_ arms.

"She’s fed and she’s had her nap." Smiles answered as Elena felt herself being rocked and wished it would stop. It was bringing up lunch.

"Stop doing that," _Moustache_ seemed to guess what the frown on her face was all about. "Feed a child and then shake it until she pukes?"

"Buck!" _Smiles_ looked at _Moustache_ mortified. "Don’t talk like that in front of the baby!"

"It ain’t like she can understand a word I’m saying Inez." _Moustache_ groaned. "Now come on, let’s git going or we ain’t gonna get this day to ourselves."

"Maybe we should bring Rose." _Smiles_ said again as the familiar ceiling disappeared and Elena chortled in delight at the blue over her instead.

"Inez," _Moustache_ replied once more. "We haven’t had any time to ourselves since we got married. I’m sure she’ll be okay with Mary for just the day."

"All right," Elena saw _Smiles_ agree before they all climbed unto the big wooden thing with the round circles and started moving with the blue above them.

* * *

 

"Hello Sweetheart." Elena woke up to see another familiar face staring down at her. She knew this face and did not feel alarmed because it always smelled nice and Elena liked seeing the gold that swayed in front of her eyes. "You’ve had a nice little nap didn’t you?"

 _Gold_ looked at her and moved some stray strands of hair from over her eyes as she was lifted out of her sleeping place and carried through the rooms of a place she did not know but was unafraid because _Gold_ was familiar and her voice was always soothing

"She awake?" Another face asked and like so many around her, Elena was quite proud of herself when she knew this one too. _Eyes_. She did not know colour but Elena could see his eyes shimmered the way that _Gold’s_ did.

"Yes," _Gold_ replied. "I’m sorry to do this to you Chris but I really have to sort this out with Audrey."

"It's fine." _Eyes_ answered taking her from Gold’s arms. There was no apprehension for Elena when he took her because his hand went to all the right places as if he were no stranger to handling one as small as she. "I’ll take her to Alex for her check-up."

"Thanks," _Gold_ sighed. "I have no idea what’s gotten into Billy but I’m going to have a little chat with Ezra once I’m done talking to Audrey."

"Well don’t be too hard on Billy," Eyes replied with an amused smile. "That’s the risk you take when you ask Ezra to baby sit. We need to have a no gambling rule in the house."

"To say the least," _Gold_ answered, not looking at all happy. "You can probably leave Elena with Alex for a while. She knows Buck and Inez are taking a day to themselves and won’t mind sitting for Rose."

"That’s fine." _Eyes_ said with an affectionate smile in her direction and Elena beamed at him because she did not think he did it very often. He adjusted the thing on his head with one arm still wrapped around her before turning to Gold and joining lips. "I’ll see you in a while."

"Thanks Chris," Gold said warmly.

Elena looked at _Eyes_ as they came out into the blue again. He was very different from _Moustache_ who was always smiling. She felt safe in his hands but not in the same way she felt when _Moustache_ held her. _Moustache_ was always saying nice things to her and making those funny faces that made her laugh. No funny faces here, just a small smile when he looked at her before those eyes became very sad for a moment and made Elena feel sad too.

"Hey lookee here!" A loud voice boomed. "If it ain’t the great Chris Larabee, you sure don’t look too scary right now."

Elena could not see who had spoken but she knew she did not like them. They smelt bad and it made lunch churn in her tiny stomach.

 _Eyes_ looked at them with a sharp glare and replied very firmly. "I only need one hand to carry this little girl, I can still use my shooting hand."

"Aw come on Larabee," the voice approached and Elena’s nose wrinkled at the stench of him. She did not like it at all and when the face peered down at her, she liked it even less. "I ain’t meaning the little one no harm, just wanted to take a look at Wilmington’s kid. Ain’t as ugly as him though."

"Not too close, Roy. You’re drunk." _Eyes_ ordered.  

Her stomach started to churn because she could still smell that overpowering stink and suddenly reacted the only way a four-month-old could.

"Goddamn it!" The one she did not like suddenly exploded loudly. "That kid just threw up on me!"

 _Eyes_ still looked as hard as ever. "I warned you not to get too close."

Elena felt her chin being wiped with the swaddling that was wrapped around her. "Babies have tricky stomachs and good taste. Face like yours could scare anyone. Be seeing you Roy."

As they started moving again, _Eyes_ looked down at her and suddenly a smile crossed his face, the first real one she had ever seen. They drew further and further away from the face she did not like before _Eyes_ said to her. 

"Nice going kid and unlike your father, you don’t need a bottle of whiskey and Mexican chili to do the same job."

 

* * *

 

"She threw up." _Hands_ declared as Elena was put on a table and she stared at _Eyes_.

"You know Roy," _Eyes_ answered as _Hands_ began the usual poking and prodding she did whenever Elena was here. The little baby could not say whether or not she liked or disliked it, except sometimes it hurt a lot and sometimes it was very ticklish. It seemed important to everyone that _Hands_ did what she had to, so Elena tried not to make too much of a fuss while she was doing it.

"Well at least she threw up for a good cause." _Hands_ smiled with amusement. "If you want to leave her here with me for a while, I don’t have any more patients for the afternoon and I need to give her, her vaccination for smallpox."

"Ouch." _Eyes_ flinched and Elena decided there was something foreboding about the way his face became unhappy after _Hands_ used that ‘word’.  "All right then, I’ll leave you to it." He tipped the black thing on his head again in her direction and then he was gone, leaving Elena alone with _Hands_.

"Just a little monthly examination," Hands spoke to her. "Just to see if you’re nice and healthy."

Elena watched _Hands_ with fascination doing all those odd things Elena was accustomed to seeing her performing,  like putting things in her mouth, tickling her toes and snapping her fingers like she wanted Elena to pay attention. Of all the faces, _Hands_ was one of the most confusing. Elena could not understand what she was doing when she disappeared for a moment. When she returned, she had something very sharp in her hands and Elena wondered what she was going to do with that.

 _Hands_ took her small plump arm and dabbed something that was cold and was about to put the sharp thing to her skin when the door opened and another voice exclaimed loudly. "Alex! You ain't sticking her with that!"

"Vin," _Hands_ groaned with exasperation. "You do this every time! Vaccinations are necessary. Now if you’re squeamish about needles, get out of here until I’m done!"

The face she recognized as _Coat_ came over to her and looked at her anxiously. Elena wondered what was wrong with him that he was so worried when suddenly she felt terrible pain and she squealed out loud.

_It hurt! It hurt! It hurt!_

"See, you done gone and made her cry." _Coat_ picked her up and started to rock her which just made the whole thing worse. Now she was in pain and starting to feel sick again. "It’s okay, she ain’t gonna hurt you no more." He cooed gently in her ear with surprising tenderness for one who always smelled like the outside where the blue was.

"Oh for God’s sake!" _Hands_ looked at him. "It’s just a needle and if you weren’t making such a fuss about it..."

"I mean couldn’t you do it when she’s a sleep or something?" _Coat_ replied, rocking her in his arms. He hated to see babies cry. It tugged at the heartstrings and he told himself that he was going to hide all the needles in the house if he and Alex had children.

"Vin..." _Hands_ started to say cautiously while Elena continued to howl. "I wouldn’t keep doing that...”

"What?" He asked blankly.

Elena threw up.

"That." _Hands_ winced as Elena unloaded the contents of lunch into _Coat’s_ buckskin coat.

"Aw hell!"

* * *

Elena was in another place and she tried to remember what it was about this one that was different from the other, and decided that it was definitely louder. She heard Hands talking in a string of words she did not understand but recognized the soft voice she who answered.

"Anyway Rain," _Hands_ continued to say. "Vin is chucking a proper fit. If I don’t help him clean that coat of his, I’m never going to hear the end of it."

"Well it was not your fault that Elena decided to throw up, is it Elena Rose?" The voice she had called _Curly_ after her long dark tresses, regarded the baby. Elena could only offer a look of innocence in response.

"No it isn’t," _Hands_ agreed. "But me laughing probably didn’t help things too much either." She shrugged while trying to stifle another smile at the scene she was forced to witness.

"Well I would have dearly loved to have been there." Another smooth, rich voice answered. It always sounded like a breath against her skin and had the ability to make her sleep. Elena grew excited because she liked that voice very much. It always smelt nice and spoke softly like music in her ear. More than anything, she liked listening to _Voice_.

"Don’t make me force you to change a diaper Ezra." Curly replied. "Alex, she will be fine with me. The saloon is pretty empty anyway and I am sure I can trust Ezra to keep an eye on Elena while I am getting ready for the dinner crowd."

"Ladies, I am the soul of dependability." _Voice_ said magnanimously and flashed Elena a smile that made her giggle. He was always so shiny and surrounded by colour. Elena reached for the sparkling thing on the end of his shirtsleeve and tugged at it.

"Right," the two women said in unison with absolutely no trace of belief in their voices.

Elena continued to play with the sparkling thing until their voices started to become more distant and she faded away into slumber.

* * *

When she woke up, she was fed by _Curly_ who gave her something very nice to eat which did not taste like the food she was normally fed and she was very hungry after her nap, so she delighted _Curly_ by eating all of it. Once she had finished her feeding, _Curly_ disappeared for a while, leaving her in the hands of the _Voice_ . She liked the _Voice_ especially when he smiled at her. Instead of cradling her like the others, he started to teach her a curious game with pictures in red and black. She was not quite big enough to sit up on her own yet, so he nursed her on his lap as they played.

Elena liked the pictures. She also liked how smooth and cool the pictures felt under her tiny palm when he distributed them between himself and her.

"Well Miss Wilmington," _Voice_ said to her. "You have an interesting hand. An ace of spades and a five. I do believe you need another card."

Just to show that she agreed with that assessment, she thumped her palm on the table once.

"You are a wise woman." He grinned and then placed another card before her. She grew excited when she saw that it was one that had pictures on it. "A queen of diamonds. Would you like another?"

Elena bounced in his lap once again and slapped her palm down on the pretty card in the affirmative.

"Always give the lady what she wants," he answered and put another picture card down. "Well I believe that is as good odds as you’re going to get. I mean a three added to your present total makes 19. I would sit on those cards, Miss Wilmington." He advised.

Elena hit her palm on the table again.

"Another?" He looked at her with a brow raised. "Are you certain about this? That is a _very_ good hand."

Elena started to bounce lightly on his lap again, making her wishes more insistent with a loud gurgle.

"All right," he conceded finally. "Never say I am a man who denies a lady anything. Another card it is." With that he placed another card in front of her even though Elena was less impressed with this one than she was with the last one with the pretty lady on it.

"Blackjack!" He gasped with surprise and looked down at her with a proud grin. "You need to learn how to talk quickly. I do believe you do possess the gift. I knew all that time Inez spent in the saloon with me in close proximity had some effect on your development."

"EZRA STANDISH, WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" A loud voice shattered the moment and Elena jumped at the sound. The new face was crowned in red hair and Elena stared at the pretty colours, transfixed in the fiery highlights as _Red_ swept into the room.

"I am merely teaching the child some social skills." _Voice_ said as he made an attempt to gather the cards and hide them. Elena looked up at him to see that he was quite nervous. She had never seen him anything less than collected and started to pout in disappointment that he was not smiling. She liked his smile.

"Social skills?" _Red_ paused in front of them both, gloved hands on her hips as she stared at them. There was no smile on her face and Elena started to feel worried for _Voice_. "Like you taught Billy social skills? I just intercepted Mary from coming here to have your guts for garters. If she had come in here and seen this..."

With that, _Red_ took Elena from him and Elena decided she did not like that at all and started to whimper. She wanted him to hold her!

"I merely taught the boy..."

"You taught him how to play craps!" _Red_ snapped. "A game which he apparently showed surprising adeptness in the school yard when he won everyone’s lunch!"

"Really?" _Voice_ started to smile with pride and that stopped Elena from whimpering.

"Get that smirk off your face!" _Red_ barked and made Elena jump again. "Mary is furious! Now I don’t know what you’re going to do to make this right but you will fix it!"

"The boy has a father you know?" He frowned.

"Yes, a father who just so happens to be one of the meanest sons of bitches in town and is not above shooting you, so get to it!" With that _Red_ swept Elena out of the place and left _Voice_ behind.

Elena was out in the big blue again, watching fast paced blurs moving past her and feeling giddy trying to catch up with all the faces around her. She did not know them but nonetheless felt secure in _Red’s_ soft arms. Although she had not wanted to leave _Voice_ , she did not mind being under the blue when there was so much going on around her. There were not just faces, but smells and noises. There were so many she could not keep track of them all. Her big brown eyes moved from place to place, trying to catch out all the things happening, but they were just too quick for her. After a while, she grew so tired of trying to keep up and fell asleep to the sight of _Red’s_ hair shimmering in the afternoon sun.

It looked pretty.

* * *

When she awoke, she was in a different place but once again the faces were familiar and she was accustomed to the two that were present. They reminded her a little of _Smiles_ and _Moustache_ because they always seemed to be arguing even though it was obvious they liked each other very much. Elena liked the way _Brown_ would play with her and make funny faces at her. Elena called her brown because she had dark hair, the same colour as _Smile’s_ eyes and she liked cradling Elena in her arms and sing songs that made Elena fall asleep.

"Oh JD," _Brown_ said. "Isn’t she beautiful?"

 _Hat_ looked at her. Elena liked _Hat_ because _Moustache_ liked _Hat_ . She did not know what the word meant but Moustache was always calling him _Hat_ ...followed by stupid, ugly, but Elena did not know what that meant either. She assumed it must be like one of those things that _Moustache_ often whispered to her when they played.

"She looks like Inez," he answered as he brought forward a bottle.

Seeing it made Elena excited because she was hungry and she uttered a little cry just to let the duo know that she would like the bottle sooner rather than later.

"Did you fix the milk like I showed you?" _Brown_ asked him as she took the bottle of milk from _Hat_ and sat down somewhere. Elena’s eyes kept following the bottle and her stomach churned in hunger as _Brown_ sat her up and made it comfortable for her to feed. Of course, she did not do it like _Smiles_ did it. _Smiles_ did it the best and held her the best too. Elena let out a soft baby sigh wondering if _Smiles_ and _Moustache_ were coming back soon. She missed them.

"Casey I ain’t dumb." He retorted somewhat incensed. "I followed your instructions."

"Well we got to feed her before we take her back to Mary’s." _Brown_ reminded as she held the bottle to Elena’s lips. The little girl opened her mouth and started nursing on the contents of the bottle, feeling her hunger satiated after a few greedy gulps, but kept feeding anyway, compelled by an instinct for older than she to continue.

"I think we should wait awhile." _Hat_ said as he took the funny thing of his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Chris has gone to rescue Ezra."

"Why does Ezra need rescuing?" _Brown_ inquired quizzically. The conversation held very little interest to Elena mostly because her milk was far more interesting at the moment. She wished she could tell _Hat_ he had made it just right but guessed he was big enough to know anyway.

"Oh Mary’s gone off the deep end," he answered. "Ezra taught Billy how to gamble and Mary’s now yelling her head off at him in the saloon."

"Still?" _Brown_ said surprised. "I didn’t think Mary could get that mad."

"I didn’t think Mary could yell for an hour straight but she’s doing just fine."

"You think we could go see?" _Brown_ gave him a conspiratory look and although Elena did not understand it, she could see that _Brown_ was very excited by the idea.

"What about Elena?" _Hat_ asked, tweaking her nose and causing Elena to chortle happily. She liked _Hat_ because he was always playing with her whenever he came around and he knew how to hold her properly too. She wondered where he learnt to do that. Of course, he didn’t like to do it in front of other people.

"We’ll take her with us." _Brown_ replied. "It’s not like she knows what’s going on anyway. Come on JD, let’s go see."

"Okay…" _Hat_ said uncertainly, not entirely sure whether or not it was such a good idea but chose to agree with _Brown_ , probably because he did not want her to shout at him again.

Once again, Elena was reminded of _Smiles_ and _Moustache_ and suddenly found herself missing them both and yearning for _Moustache_ to hold her and blow bubbles on her tummy. Hopefully, they would not be away too long because the blue was starting to disappear and Elena equated its vanishing with the time it came for her to be put to sleep. She did not want anyone else to do that but them.

 _Brown_ and _Hat_ took her out into the big blue once again and as she looked into the expanse above her head, she noticed it was changing cool rapidly. Very soon, it would not be blue anymore and it would be time for her to be placed in her sleeping place. Despite the day’s ending, there were still many faces on the street and very soon they were somewhere with a lot of noise where one voice seemed raised above all others. _Hat_ and _Brown_ peered through the funny shape doors of the place where _Voice_ had been.

"And if I ever find you teaching my son such unsavoury habits again, I will ensure Mr Standish that you will have no hands to ever deal another card again." The familiar yet loud voice that Elena had come to recognize as _Gold’s_ , roared with fury.

"JD, Casey," someone hissed behind them. "Lord, what is in both your heads bringing a baby to this place?"

"Oh we just wanted a look Nathan." _Brown_ seemed to whine as they regarded the one Elena knew was called _Doc_. Everyone called him that but Elena did not understand why.

"Here, I’ll take her." He frowned at them before reaching for her and taking her out of _Brown’s_ arms.

Like _Eyes_ and _Hat_ , Doc knew just how to hold her as they moved away from the place with all the angry noises and went elsewhere, leaving behind _Brown_ and _Hat_ to watch the excitement taking place. _Doc_ was the first face she had ever seen, the one who greeted her after her departure from the soft, warm place she could not really remember, but knew she left forever when the blue first appeared over her head. His was the first touch she knew and although she did not understand the instinct behind it, Elena knew she could always feel safe with him.

"You’re growing so big." _Doc_ said with a wistful expression on his face. "It feels like just yesterday I saw you come into the world."

Elena did not understand what he was saying but there was so much love in his eyes she could not help feel the need to reach out and touch him. Her tiny palm brushed against his smooth skin and she felt his chest swell beneath her body as he held her next to him as they continued walking.

"Hello Nathan." The unmistakably deep voice, which always sent tremors through her when she heard it, spoke in its soft tones at _Doc_ . It was an odd sort of voice but strangely compelling and always made her sleepy when she heard it. He was always casting a shadow whenever he looked down at her and so Elena had appropriately called him _Big_. There were at a place she recognized easily because it had very colourful windows with pretty pictures on it and whenever everyone was inside the building, they seemed to speak with a lower voice than usual. There was something about it that commanded respect. "You babysitting today?"

"No," _Doc_ answered as they descended the steps to the arched doorway. "I saw her with Casey and JD outside the saloon can you believe it?"

"They probably wanted to see the toasting Ezra’s getting from Mary." _Big_ replied with some amusement in his voice. "Hello there little one." He greeted her with a smile as his big hand reached for her nose and tapped it playfully with his fingertip, inciting a gurgle of delight from her upon doing so. "So how is Ezra doing?" He asked _Doc_ again.

"Oh he’s alive but barely." _Doc_ laughed feeling no sympathy for man or his situation. "I think Chris is just letting Ezra burn a little more before he’ll step in and save his ass."

"Wouldn’t be the first time," _Big_ remarked before turning to her. "How would you like to hear a little story Elena?"

"Well if you’re gonna do that," _Doc_ replied handing her to Big. The tall man took her in his arms and held her very carefully almost as if he was afraid of her, even though Elena could never feel fear at any of the faces she had seen today. "You can take her while I go find out where she is supposed to be. Last thing we want is Inez losing her mind cause she don’t know where her little girl is."

"Amen to that." _Big_ nodded in agreement.

He carried her into the building as _Doc_ went away, rocking her gently in her arms, and lulling her slowly into slumber as he started speaking in dulcet tones.

"Once upon a time….."

* * *

"Time to sleep my little Rose," _Smiles_ was looking down at her happily after she had been brought back to the familiar surroundings of her sleeping place. Elena was very content if not a little tired. The ride home had taken forever and the big blue had well and truly descended into darkness by the time they reached this room. Once back, _Smiles_ had nestled Elena on her lap and gave her a warm bottle of milk after which she was placed in the comfortable surroundings of her bed. Elena immediately rolled onto her tummy and looked up at her parents, preferring to sleep this way because she could feel the softness of her bedding against her cheek.

"You’ve had a busy day." _Smiles_ ran her palm gently over Elena’s back and soothed the little girl by that action.

"I’ll say." _Moustache_ suddenly appeared next to _Smiles_ and cast the same tender look at Elena who raised her head long enough to offer them both a toothless grin of happiness at seeing them again. It had been a long day and she missed them both. "From what Nathan tells me, she threw up on Roy McAlester and Vin."

"Oh no," _Smiles_ declared trying not to laugh but she did nonetheless and Elena liked the way it sounded enough to join in her giggles with some of her own. "Poor Vin! Where did Elena get him?"

"You don’t want to know." _Moustache_ said with something of a smirk on his face.

"Not the jacket!" _Smiles_ laughed.

"Afraid so," _Moustache_ nodded as he started to laugh himself. "By the way, Julia happened to mention we should never, ever let Ezra baby-sit. Ever."

"I heard," _Smiles_ chuckled, perfectly aware why. "Mary told me about Billy."

Elena continued to watch them, unaware of what they were to her in reality nor could she have even understood the concept if anyone tried to explain. However, she felt exceedingly comforted to be in their presence. She rested her head against the small pillow and continue to stare at them, watching them speak in words she did not comprehend but was nonetheless assured they would be there when she woke up again.

For now, she would sleep because she was very tired and it had been quite a day.  
  
  
**THE END**  



End file.
